Antioxidants May Reduce Effects of Alzheimer’s

Intake Of Antioxidants, Carotenoids and Phytonutrients Recommended To Support Cardiovascular Health As Well As Supporting Cognitive and Mental Function…

Consuming antioxidant nutrients may reduce levels of the amino acid homocysteine, and counter the detrimental inflammatory effects associated with Alzheimer’s disease, suggests a new study.

Daily consumption of the antioxidant-rich drink for eight months was associated with a smaller increase in homocysteine levels, compared with the placebo group, and the effects were even more significant in people with moderate Alzeimer’s disease, according to findings published in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences.

“The main finding of this study is that patients who drank the antioxidant supplement beverage showed lower increase in homocysteine concentrations (especially patients of the moderate phase Alzheimer’s Disease),” wrote researchers from the Catholic University of San Antonio in Murcia in Spain.

Previously, epidemiological studies have reported that high levels of homocysteine are associated with suspected or confirmed dementia. Indeed, the Framingham study reported that people with homocysteine levels above 14 micromoles per liter of serum had twice the risk of dementia.

“It is not clear, however, if an elevation of homocysteine concentration is a “risk factor” with a direct pathophysiological role in the development of the disease or merely a “risk marker” reflecting an underlying process such as oxidative stress, responsible for both the high homocysteine concentrations and the development of Alzheimer’s disease,” explained the researchers.

“At present we know that elevations in plasma tHcy temporally precede the development of dementia and that there is a continuous, inverse linear relation between plasma homocysteine concentrations and cognitive performance in older persons” they added.

Study Details…

The Murcia-based scientists recruited 100 women to participate in the multicenter, randomized, double-blind controlled clinical trial. 52 of the women were considered generally healthy (no Alzheimer’s) and assigned to the control group, while the other 48 were diagnosed with Alzeimer’s disease (24 women with early-onset and 24 with moderate Alzheimer’s).

Women from all three groups were randomly assigned to one of two interventions: One received a placebo drink for eight months, while the other received an antioxidant & polyphenol-rich supplement beverage. The antioxidant beverage was formulated using apple and lemon concentrate juice, apple and green tea extracts, B Complex Vitamins and Vitamin C.

Results showed that consumption of the antioxidant-rich drink ” attenuated the homocysteine (tHcy) increase in the control group”, which was measured at a level of 11.7 micromoles per liter for the antioxidant beverage, compared with 15.63 micromoles per liter for the placebo group. Furthermore, in people with moderate Alzeimer’s diseases, the active beverage was associated with an average homocysteine level of 10.49 micromoles per liter, compared with 16.58 micromoles per liter for the placebo group.

“If we take the value homocysteine (tHcy) 14.0 micromoles per liter as a “risk value” associated with cardiovascular alterations on neuro-degenerative diseases, we can state that this concentration was higher in those subjects that took the placebo drink in the control group and in the group of AD in the moderate phase, whereas the subjects of those groups that took the drink rich in polyphenolic antioxidants beverage maintained their homocysteine levels lower than 14.0 micromoles per liter,” stated the researchers.

Previously, high levels of the amino acid, hyperhomocysteinemia, were said to be a marker for heart disease and thought to be a risk factor for atherosclerotic disease, which contributes to heart attacks.

The link was originally founded on the observation that children with homocystinuria, a rare genetic condition causing extreme elevations in homocysteine levels, have higher rates of cardiovascular disease. The observation was therefore generalized to the wider population, with the hypothesis indicating that supplementation with B vitamins may reduce blood homocysteine levels and reduce the risk of heart disease.

Researchers from the University of Oxford reported their findings in the Archives of Internal Medicine (Vol. 170, pp. 1622-1631).

Source : Journal of the Neurological Sciences (published online) “Effect of an antioxidant drink on homocysteine levels in Alzheimer’s patients”

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